The aim of the present doctoral thesis was to examine to what extent personality traits and approaches to learning contribute to academic performance in upper secondary school (high school), after controlling for the well-known fact that general intelligence accounts for a large part of the variance. The general proposition of the thesis is that personality traits are stable dispositions and therefore predispose an individual to behave or act in a specific manner (Costa & McCrae, 1976). Additionally, another important determinant of academic performance is students’ approaches to learning, the way someone studies and makes sense of a particular school subject (Biggs, 1999). Study I examined how personality traits, divided into facets, predict academic performance in different school subjects. The results from several SEM analyses showed that personality, specifically Conscientiousness, has a positive influence on academic performance. In addition, there was a negative relation between Extraversion and academic performance and a positive relation between Neuroticism and academic performance. There were also interesting findings on the facet levels for all traits. The major conclusion of this study is that personality traits, both on the factor level and on the facet level, are important to academic performance in general, but sometimes more specifically to different school subjects. In Study II, the aim was to investigate the unique contribution of learning approaches to academic performance. A second aim was to explore possible gender differences in learning approaches. It was found that learning approaches contributed uniquely to academic performance, over and above personality and general intelligence. Differences between girls and boys were found, both with respect to the use of learning approaches and the consequences of these learning approaches for performance results. Based on a longitudinal design, the aim of Study III was to explore to what extent personality traits predict academic performance. Conscientiousness, Extraversion and Neuroticism were found to predict overall academic performance. Results suggest that personality traits, as measured at the age of 16, can predict academic performance at the age of 19, and more specifically: the grades of conscientious students improved from age 16 to age 19. This study extends previous work by assessing the relationship between the Big Five and academic performance over a three-year period.

The aim of the present study was to explore the ability of personality to predict academic performance in a longitudinal study of a Swedish upper secondary school sample. Academic performance was assessed throughout a three-year period via final grades from the compulsory school and upper secondary school. The Big Five personality factors (Costa & McCrae, 1992) - particularly Conscientiousness and Neuroticism - were found to predict overall academic performance, after controlling for general intelligence. Results suggest that Conscientiousness, as measured at the age of 16, can explain change in academic performance at the age of 19. The effect of Neuroticism on Conscientiousness indicates that, as regarding getting good grades, it is better to be a bit neurotic than to be stable. The study extends previous work by assessing the relationship between the Big Five and academic performance over a three-year period. The results offer educators avenues for improving educational achievement.

Background and aims: In many countries, the consumption of fruit, berries, and vegetables is about half the recommended. Berries contain bioactive compounds that may affect cognitive functions. School children are often hungry and thirsty during the lectures before lunch and this affects performance. Could a berry-smoothie decrease thirst and hunger, and thereby affect school performance? The aim was to investigate if a cross-over design can be used to study the effects of a smoothie on performance in a school setting.

Methods: Methodological challenges included developing an appetizing berry-smoothie and choosing a suitable experimental design that could be adapted to school conditions.

In the pilot study, 236 Swedish children aged 10–12 years participated in a cross-over design and were administered either a berry-smoothie or a fruit-based placebo after the midmorning break. Both beverages provided 5% of the daily energy intake. Performance was assessed using the d2 Test of Attention measuring attention span and concentration. Statistical analyses were performed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test in StatXact v 10.3.

Results: The consumption of both the smoothie and the placebo increased the attention span and concentration significantly.

Conclusion: The children's performance in the d2 Test of Attention was positively affected by beverage consumption. The effect was attributed to the supplementation of water and energy. In this design, the study did not permit any conclusive results regarding the effect of bioactive compounds on performance. In a coming study, a third group, receiving no beverage, should be included aiming to identify the cause of the effect.